Who Designed The New Snapchat Stickers? A Recent Buyout Is Starting To Make Sense

The big wigs at Snapchat really know how to play their cards close to their vests. After it was announced last week that Snapchat had acquired the Toronto, Canada-based company Bitstrips (makers of personal emojis or "bitmojis"), many insiders were curious. What in the world could Snapchat be up to? Now that Snapchat has launched its "Chat 2.0" app, the riddle may have been solved. And if you're wondering who designed the amazing new Snapchat stickers, it looks like we might finally have the answer.

Bitstrips was founded in 2007 by Jacob Blackstock as a way to help users (including school children using the app as an educational device) build their own personal comics. In 2014 the company branched out with "bitmojis", emojis that can be personally customized right down to skin tone. The bitmojis can be accessorized, and put into different poses, which makes them crazy addictive. The company was bought out by Snapchat last week for approximately $100 million and neither camp was saying a word about the massive deal. A fact which many insiders found befuddling.

Now that Snapchat has launched its new, comprehensive update, Chat 2.0, it's all starting to make more sense. The chatting on Snapchat is going to get more integrated, with user-friendly options to help you move seamlessly between audio, video, and texting. Plus, there are hundreds of stickers being designed by the Snapchat team, which now likely includes the Bitstrips creative team as well. While neither company has confirmed the integration, it's looking more and more to be the case.

If Snapchat plans to work along with Bitstrips (and before you get too excited, there doesn't look to be a bitmoji option in the Snapchat stickers just yet), it could be great news for users. The stickers they are using right now are already super fun and easy to use. You can either browse through the stickers yourself or type in key phrases (like "sad", or "silly"), and the app will pull up a selection of stickers that correlate.

Some of us are still hoping the acquisition of Bitstrips means more personalized stickers on the horizon. After all, who doesn't want to create an avatar that is eerily similar to your IRL face, then use said avatar to convey all of the feels you are feeling (like celebrating your girl squad,
or that feeling you get when you need a makeover but you are low on funds)?

Even if personal avatars don't happen to be your cup of tea, the new Snapchat stickers are the perfect combination of adorable, witty, and sweet, so everyone should have a reason to rejoice for the time being.

With all of these great new Snapchat features (video chatting, adorable stickers, and audio messaging to name a few), I think we all need to rethink our data plans. Time to go for the max, people. You know you're gonna need it.